Photo Credit: Getty images via IAAF.org
Social and traditional media has been ablaze today 12th March 2016 as South African one lap sprinter covered the 100 meters in less than 10 seconds. He ran the race with a time of 9.98 seconds, which given the amount of sprinters who specializes in the 100 meters that do so often was not so extraordinary.

What was significant however is that Van Niekerk is the first sprinter in the history of the sport to run below 10 seconds in the 100 meters, 20 seconds in the 200 and 44 seconds in the 400.

The gritty South African sprinter came to prominence in 2015 when he dethroned the reigning world Champion Lashawn Merritt of the USA in the 400 meters at the IAAF World Athletics Outdoor Championships in Beijing, running the 4th fastest 400 meters of all time shattering the African record along the way with a time of 43.48 seconds.